I love heirloom flowers and this book was gorgous in it's own right. The hints and tips invaluable. Thanks.

This beautiful book is such a treasure chest of heirloom flowers. those species that have been grown for many years, in many gardens. From cottage garden classics such as foxglove and hollyhocks, to the uses and history of so many beautiful blooms, this is reference book for any dedicated flower gardener.

Growing Heirloom Flowers: Bring the Vintage Beauty of Heritage Blooms to Your Modern Garden is a new how-to-and-why gardening handbook from Chris McLaughlin out 8th May 2018 by Quarto - Cool Springs Press. It's gloriously full color, 163 pages and available in ebook and hardcover formats.

I'm a huge believer in biodiversity and open pollinated crops, seed sharing and organic gardening. I grew up on a smallholding full of animals and plants which were eminently suited to their environments because they'd grown and flourished in the climate where they were planted/raised for a long long time. There was never much thought given to the transportability or marketability of different vegetables or flowers because they only had to travel a few hundred meters to the kitchen. The tomatoes, by gosh, exploded with tomato flavor and the clove pinks and stocks made you giddy with the smell. That is something this author really gets. In fact, there's been a really scary trend toward loss of biodiversity and variety in our crops and seeds worldwide. The trend toward taking back our heirloom heritage is important and this book is very timely in that respect.

The book starts with an introduction and explanation; what heirlooms are and why we should be interested in growing them. The author continues on to describe the different uses of plants and starts off with flowers for the cutting garden. Most of the plants she describes for different uses have an individual entry with pictures, color photos and uses. Happily, she includes the proper Latin names in each listing, so gardeners can find their way to the correct plants.

Interspersed rather whimsically in each chapter are short tutorial with crafts and other fun tidbits (making a flower crown, freezing flower ice cubes for drinks, drinks, crafts and foods, etc). Fragrant flowers get their own chapter and I really agree with all her choices. There are a number of old favorites often overlooked (especially in modern garden centres), and which deserve a place in the cottage garden. The chapter on cottage garden classics also includes a fair number of old 'forgotten' favorites which will reward the modern gardener with gorgeous blooms and provide wonderful food and pollen for bees and other wildlife.

The book includes a resource list (slanted toward gardeners in the USA) and handy list of gardens to visit for inspiration. There's a very short author bio and a useful (abridged) index. All in all a worthwhile addition to the heirloom gardening library.

The author's style is very breezy and chatty and exuberant. It did get a bit wearisome that she referred to every one of the plants in the book as 'she' and 'the girls'. A bit of anthropomorphism is fine, but it got to be a bit much for me particularly. On the other hand, for the vast majority of gardeners who will use this book as a pick-and-mix resource and not read it from cover to cover, that won't be an issue. It's a charming and useful book.

4 stars

Growing Heirloom Flowers is dedicated to those flowering plants that are passed along from generation to generation. The book is divided into four main sections: those for cutting, for fragrance, for crafting, and "cottage classics." Each highlighted plant in a section comes with a brief description that includes both historical references as well as growing tips. Interspersed among the plant description are other helpful pages, such as tips for cutting/preserving flowers, flower arranging tips, or setting up a garden party.

The book is lavishly illustrated with photos that will make you want to grow every flower. However, in many cases, the captions for the photos lack the cultivar name. I'm dying to know more about the beautiful peach-colored peony on page 61.

I'd encourage anyone who's eager to start a flower garden to check out this book. Many of the highlighted plants are ones that are commonly ignored in today's gardens, yet provide so much color and variety to the garden. It's a well-done collection!

I spent time at my Mother's this week. A topic of discussion was heirloom flowers and our favorites. I must admit I have many I love but in the top 5 are Gladolias, Rose's, Peony's, Bleeding Heart's, Lilac's. Mom's list is slightly different - though we share some in common.

This book offers excellent information on growing many heirloom flowers.

There are flower arranging tips and details on how to make an attractive "Summer Flower Crown", lessons in drying and pressing framed flowers, and a list of edibles and how to make floral ice cubes. There's also soaps, candles, body scrubs, bath salts, floral paper, and creative garden journal ideas.

This is a beautiful book on flowers that you can grow in your garden and then cut for your home.  The book is split into 4 main chapters,  Bold Blooms for the Cutting Garden, Flowers for Fragrance, The Handcrafter's Heirloom and Cottage Classics plus an Introduction into what heirloom flowers are.  

Each chapter provides details on the individual flower and its history.  Included is details on planting, when and how to cut them whilst in bloom plus if they need digging up due to frost.  There are tips throughout the book and lets you know how to best arrange your flowers in a vase, teapot or whatever you feel like.

Each flower comes with full colour photography and there are a number of projects such as a flower crown, a bouquet, dyeing a scarf or framing pressed flowers.

I certainly found it a useful book, as I now know my self seeding plant that has come up year after year in massive quantities is a Love in a Mist and when I should cut my Gladiola that I have planted.

The Resources section includes places to get your heirloom plants, heirloom gardens to visit which are all based in the USA.

Growing Heirloom Flowers is a collection of how to grow many of my favorite flowers. I really enjoyed this book because a lot of the flowers covered are ones that are sentimental reminders of my two grandmother’s flower gardens. The book contains breathtaking pictures of beautiful flowers. It also contains a few craft tutorials that show how to use flowers in other ways than cut flower arrangements. This book has inspired me to add back in a few of my childhood favorites into my flower garden this year and would be a welcome addition to any flower gardener’s collection.

I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review.

Growing Heirloom Flowers by Chris McLaughlin
Bring the Vintage Beauty of Heritage Blooms to Your Modern Garden

Quatro Publishing
Nonfiction, gardening
May 2018

I received this digital ARC from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for unbiased review.


A wonderful directory of the most common heirloom flowers suitable for your modern garden. The illustrations provide a colorful display of the blossoms described. The author provides some history regarding each species with advice on growing and cutting techniques. There are some suggestions for using the flowers in wreaths or bouquets.

Many of the plants may be familiar to the home gardener who may be unaware their amazing history. It’s fascinating how these plants have retained their original beauty and hardiness to have endured over 100 years. It’s no wonder that many have been useful in the advances of medical and culinary history.

Wonderful! This book is full of my favorite flowers. There are tips on how to grow them, and where they came from. And, the book is beautifully photographed! There are also some interesting craft ideas that my wife is eager to try. A fun book just to pick up, browse through, and enjoy!

I love plants. Whether it be fruits and vegetables or Flowers. In this case it is flowers. Growing Heirloom Flowers by Chris McLaughlin is a book filled with stunning photos and tons of information to assist you in making and taking caking care of Heirloom Flowers. Most of these flowers are found in just about every garden department of stores. They are considered Heirloom Flowers because they have been around for so long and are classic.

The book shows you a picture of the flower and tells you how to and where is best to plant, how much water, sun, or shade it needs, when you should feed it, how to cut it back, how to protect during the winter, and so much more. It even gives you some history of the plant.

After reading this book I almost feel like an expert. Now I am off to the garden center to see if I can grow these plants like an expert.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

I am totally in love with this book! Not only does it offer valuable botanical information to not only advance but novice gardener too, it also includes craft ideas. These craft projects I mostly have not seen before, from flower garlands to hand dying silk. Although written for northern hemisphere gardens, most of these plants have made it through out the world and growing tips provided are easily transposed. I can't wait for spring here in Australia to hand dye floral pictorials smashed onto silk!!!

Thanks to this book I am about $20 poorer for buying seeds of what is pictured online. The photos are gorgeous, and I learned about several flowers I don't think I've seen before (such as Love in a Mist, which I have ordered now). Included in the book are some cute craft ideas like floral crowns and flower dying silk, and an interesting description of just what heirloom means. Flip through this to get ideas of what you want in your garden. I'm glad I did!

Get out your highlighter or page markers when you sit down with this book because you will want to check back on your favorite flowers throughout the season. Chris McLaughlin's "Growing Heirloom Flowers" is a gardeners dream reference book for any gardener whether they've been gardening for years or just getting started. It is full of vibrant, gorgeous photography of the most beautiful heirloom flowers. Through reading this book I've discovered that my garden is already full of heirloom flowers, and the tips and tricks in this book have me confident that this will be their best year yet! "Growing Heirloom Flowers" would be the perfect Mother's Day gift, or 'just because' gift for any gardener in your life.

As a editor-in-chief for a heirloom plant magazine this book was a must read for me. Already the cover is tempting with its abundance of flowers and the inside comes in par. The illustrations are a must in a book like this and the photos in this book are just wonderful.
Chris McLaughlin is a true proponent of heirloom flowers and if she doesn't convince the reader of the importance and beauty of them with this book, I don't know what would.
McLaughlin goes through the flowers for cutting garden, flowers for fragrance (the big pus of heirloom varieties), flowers for handcrafting with some lovely ideas of how to use them, and flowers for a classic cottage garden.
She also brings up the most important thing with the heirloom species - biodiversity - the fact that they carry on the variety of life that we might sorely miss some day with our ever diminishing variety of plant species in cultivation.
The heirlooms also have the wonderful element that they so often are "passalong" plants - something you give to your friends and family members, rather than something you buy from a store.
McLaughlin also tells what flowers are edible, how to make flower arrangements, what is a tussie mussie, how to store and use lavender (18 different ways!), how to dye with flowers and how to create a Victorian garden journal.
There are so much information on all the species, that this book should definitely be one of the staples in a gardener's library.

This book is beautiful and helpful. Reading this book you'll learn about heirloom flowers and growing them. You'll find all you need. Also, readers will enjoy the pictures at go along with everything in beautiful color and helpful visuals.

This book is photographed so beautifully, I swear I could smell the flowers through the screen! Tons of useful information but easy to navigate for the novice flower gardener.

Gorgeous collection of photos and information on heirloom plants. Great suggestions for use and care. Very clearly written and easy to digest information.

This was a nice and interesting read for me, from making a flower crown to finding out about edible flowers there is lot of fun facts about colourful and beautiful flowers in this book.
The reason I wanted to read this book was improving my botany knowledge as I would love to identify and know more about different flowers when I visit stately home gardens etc. and I am glad I did read this. Not only covers generic flower/plant knowledge also talks about each plant's origin and this was overall a fun read for me.
Great pictures, great content, I would recommend this book to people who love plants!

Fabulous book with lovely sections dedicated to beautiful flowers. I especially loved the descriptive text and vivid colourful pictures.

The handy tips were brilliant.

Recommended throughly

Visually pleasing and informative. The author gives detailed information about the history, planting and usage of timeless, and essential in my opinion, flowers to incorporate into your gardens. Presented with many types, some hopefully you already grow and some you will remember that you used to love, you will invite them again into your space. Basic enough for the new gardener and informative enough for the seasoned. Worth a read